Goosebumps
by DolbyDigital
Summary: [3] When James, Peter and Sirius decide to investigate the Forest, they find a lot more than they bargained for. [4] [Summary] At nine years old, he was lucky his dad had let him bring the family camera on his school trip. None of the other students had a proper camera––only the disposable sort that Colin really hated––and he was feeling pretty special about it.
1. Welcome to Dead House

_[Summary] –_ Welcome to Dead House _: When Lily decides to unearth the secrets of the 'haunted house' she gets a lot more than she bargained for._

 **A/N –** Each chapter of this collection is going to be named after one of the Goosebumps books (hence the title). They will all be standalone one-shots or drabbles.

* * *

"Tuney, c'mon," Lily whispered. "It'll be fine."

"How can you say that?" Petunia hissed, glaring at her younger sister. "There's a _reason_ no one goes into that house. No one's ever seen again!"

"That's ridiculous," Lily said. "If no one ever went in there, how could you know anyone that did would never be seen again?"

"Well, I– They– It's–" Petunia sputtered, before taking a deep breath and collecting her resolve. "I am _not_ going in there."

"Okay," Lily said, shrugging.

"Okay?" Petunia asked, the scowl finally dropping from her features to be replaced by a look of confusion. "What–" she began, but Lily was already halfway up the path to the small cottage. "Lily? What're you doing?" Petunia hissed.

"I'm going in." Lily turned to face her sister, walking backwards for a moment. "You can wait here if you want. Or I'll meet you back home." Petunia looked behind her, towards the empty street and their little house across the road, then back towards her sister. The Snape's house loomed menacingly behind her, looking innocuous if not for the obvious neglect the building had suffered. She chewed her lip, indecisive; she didn't want to go in there, but–

"This is a terrible idea," she muttered to herself. "Wait, I'm coming," she called, a little louder, to her sister, jogging down the small path to catch up.

"It'll be fine," Lily said. "We're just gonna knock, and–" As she spoke, Lily raised her hand to knock on the door, but before she could bring her hand down the door was already slowly swinging open. She thought there should have at least been a creaking of hinges, but the door opened silently despite the rusted metal. "Hello?" Lily called into the dark hallway, pushing the door open further.

"What are you doing?" Petunia hissed, reaching out to grab her sister's arm. Lily shrugged off her hand and stepped carefully into the empty hallway.

"Is anyone there?" she called into the silent house, ignoring Petunia's protests and walking down the corridor.

"Lily!" Petunia grabbed her hand, her fingers cold and clammy.

"It'll be okay," Lily whispered, trying to hide her own fear from her sister. "We're just gonna find out if anyone lives here, then we'll go straight home." She tightened her grasp on her sister's hand.

Most of the houses on their street had the same layout, so she led her sister over to where she thought the stairs might be, hoping they could find their way in the dark. Her foot almost fell through the first step, and she considered turning back, but–

"Be careful," she whispered, testing out the next step. They made their way up the staircase like this, leaning heavily on each other for support. Upon reaching the landing she moved forward slightly, giving her sister just enough room to stand behind her, and took in her surroundings.

There was a little more light up here, as a narrow beam of sunlight shone through a small hole in the boarded windows, and she could just about make out the room. Empty of everything but cobwebs and dust, she had a brief moment to wonder why there was no furniture or light fixtures before–

A scream from downstairs caused her breath to catch in her throat, and she spun around to face her sister.

"You shouldn't be here," a boy said, greasy hair framing a sallow face and his black eyes widening in ernest. He tightened his hold on her hand. "My parents don't like visitors."

She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out, and she couldn't tell if she was breathing too fast or not at all.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." He smiled at her, thin lips parting in what was probably an attempt at a reassuring gesture. His rotting teeth and disconcerting eyes made the effort pointless.

"Tuney!" she gasped, the word barely more than an exhale. She pushed past the boy with surprising strength and began down the stairs at a run.

"No, wait!" he called after her; she couldn't hear him following over the sound of her heartbeat in her ears, but she felt him grab ahold of her wrist and pull her backwards. The pain was excruciating, the delicate bones of her wrist grinding together in a way that was never intended. "I said wait," he shrieked, his pale face filled with anger. "You need to _listen_ , Lily," he said calmer now, but the anger was still evident in his tone.

"How–" she choked out. "How do you know my name?" she managed to gasp. She could feel the acidic taste of bile and knew she needed to get out of this house, but– "Where's my sister?" she said, her voice a little stronger now.

"I told you," he said, frowning at her, all traces of anger forgotten. "My parents don't like visitors."

"But–" she whispered, her legs shaking so much they could barely support her. "But–"

"It's okay," he said cheerfully. "I'll keep you safe. No one's gonna hurt you."


	2. Stay Out of the Basement

_[summary] –_ Stay Out of the Basement: _Barty's plan to get Regulus to explore his own home backfires spectacularly._

* * *

"You live here and you've never been into the basement?" Barty asked incredulously, staring at Regulus as though _he_ were the insane one.

"It just… It isn't a good idea," Regulus muttered, refusing to make eye contact with his friend.

"Why not?" Barty asked, completely unfazed.

"It's not a… _normal_ house," Regulus whispered, eyes darting around the room as if he thought someone might be listening. Barty scoffed at that.

"C'mon," he said, grabbing Regulus' wrist and dragging him to the top of the stairs. "You've lived here your entire life. If there was something bad in there, you'd know it by now." Regulus shook his head slowly, trying to come up with a way to convince Barty that they should leave the room alone, but his friend was already climbing down the stairs.

"We really shouldn't be doing this," Regulus whispered, but he was forced to follow due to the firm grip Barty still had on his wrist.

"It's just a bit dark, is all," Barty said. The basement was flooded with light. "Thanks," Barty said when his vision finally cleared.

"That… that wasn't me," Regulus stuttered, torn between turning back and staying close to the only other person in the house.

"Oh. Are they automatic, then?" Barty asked, reaching the bottom of the stairs and looking around the room. It was surprisingly clean for a room so rarely used. There wasn't a single cobweb – the old furniture (most likely a relic from the previous occupants of the house) wasn't even dusty – but that wasn't what drew Regulus' attention.

"No," Regulus whispered.

"Then what–" Barty cut himself off mid-sentence, his eyes finally registering where Regulus was looking.

In stark contrast to the room, the boy was unkempt, looking like he hadn't showered in weeks. Maybe longer. His hand was still on the light switch.

He stared at them in silence for a moment, grey eyes calm, before giving an exaggerated pout.

"I don't like people in my room," he said.

The lights cut out.


	3. Monster Blood

_[Summary] –_ Monster Blood: _When James, Peter and Sirius decide to investigate the Forest, they find a lot more than they bargained for._

* * *

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Remus asked doubtfully, but continued before either James or Sirius had a chance to respond. "No, of course you do. You're idiots. Peter," Remus said, turning to face the other boy. "Maybe you can talk some sense into them."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I tried. They think they've found their calling."

"This is ridiculous," he muttered.

"Um, excuse me," Sirius said. "If I could just interject."

"Why are you talking like that?" Peter asked, looking at his friend in confusion.

"Because this is Sirius," James said with a smirk.

"Hey, that's my line." Sirius glared at his friend.

"I have to go," Remus interjected, looking between his three friends.

"What? Again?" Peter asked.

"Yeah. Family emergency," he said. "I'll be back in a couple days. Try not to get yourselves killed while I'm gone," he said, turning and walking back into the castle to the chorus of his friends' farewells.

"Do you think that's what's really going on with him?" Peter asked as soon as Remus was out of earshot.

"Why would he lie?" James asked.

"He's had a family emergency nearly every month since first year."

"We'll work on it once we've finished this," Sirius said. "One mystery at a time."

"Besides," James added. "Tonight's the full moon, so we'd have to wait another month if we don't find it tonight."

.oOo.

The three of them hid under James' invisibility cloak, with Peter in the middle, and silently crept through the halls of Hogwarts. They made it outside without incident, and removed the cloak so that they didn't have to walk so closely together.

"I still think we should wait for Remus," Peter muttered.

"Yeah, okay," James said. "We'll tell him that when he gets back."

They made their way into the Forest, Peter's objections falling on deaf ears.

"What was that?" Sirius whispered, stopping suddenly.

"What?" James and Peter asked at the same time. Peter took a step closer to his friends, while James looked around for whatever Sirius might have heard.

"I think we should go back," Peter whispered. He could hear a rustling in the trees, a snuffling sound. His heart beat fast in his chest, pounding in his ears. He felt bile rising in his throat, but couldn't even open his mouth to scream.

"Yeh shouldn't be out here." Either James or Sirius – Peter didn't turn to see who – let out a yelp at the sudden voice, but Peter only felt crushing relief. Hagrid stepped out of the shadows, closely followed by Fang, holding a lantern up and peering at the three students in the circle of light it produced. "It's no' safe," he said. "I'll take ya back to the castle."

"But Hagrid!" Sirius said, having recovered from his fear. "There's something _out here_."

"There's lots o' things in the Forest," he said. "No' the best place ter be, even in the day."

"But people could _die_ , Hagrid," James said.

"An' tha's no' something fer you to be sortin' out," Hagrid said firmly, steering them in the direction they had just come.

"But, Hagrid," Sirius whined.

"There's all kinds o' creatures in the Forest," Hagrid reiterated. "Most o' 'em aren't friendly ter strangers."

"But–" Sirius began, but stopped abruptly. "What was that?" he whispered.

"Last time, it was just Hagrid," James said loudly, looking at his friend with mild annoyance.

"Well, Hagrid's here now," Sirius hissed. "So keep your voice down."

"Relax," James said. "Hagrid knows every inch of the Forest."

"Now, I wouldn't say tha'." All three boys turned to face Hagrid, expressions showing varying degrees of alarm. "Keep yer voices down," he said, seemingly oblivious to their fear. "There's no tellin' what tha' was."

"Hagrid, what's–" Peter began.

"Oh." Hagrid seemed to relax. "I's only Aragog."

"Oh, well that's–" Sirius started, but was cut off by James.

" _Spider,"_ he shrieked. A large black creature, its body easily the size of a watermelon, had slowly descended from the trees above them and was not wrapping long legs around James. He yelped, instinctively trying to keep his mouth closed. Peter took a step back.

"There's nothin' ter be afraid o'," Hagrid said. "An' tha' one's only a baby." James whimpered. "He's on'y playing," Hagrid said, possibly aiming for reassurance. There was more rustling from the trees. "They'll take care o' ya."

More spiders were coming, crawling forward from the shadows and forming a ring around them.

"Yes," the spider clinging to James whispered. "We'll take care of the children."

"Wh-where are you going?" Peter stuttered.

"Something's disturbin' the spiders," Hagrid said, already making his way into the trees. "They'll get ya back ter the castle." He disappeared before any of the boys could protest further.

"This way, this way," the spiders called to the boys. Peter felt one latch onto his trouser leg and instinctively kicked it away.

Three more had climbed on James, and another was slowly lowering itself to crawl in Peter's hair.

Even more were coming, now, separating James and Peter from Sirius.

A howl startled the spiders, and they latched on tighter to Peter, pulling him into the trees. He could see the same happening to James off to his left.

"Sirius!" James yelled, trying to reach out, but his arms were pinned to his side. Peter turned slowly, dreading what he might see.

Sirius was mostly obscured by the spiders and the trees, now, but even so he could see that the spiders were clearly keeping their distance from Sirius. Another howl, and a large blur leapt from the trees, heading straight for Sirius.

Another scream sounded, though Peter couldn't tell if it was James or Sirius, before Peter's eyes and mouth were covered by long hairy legs.

* * *

 **A/N –** Fun fact: there's actually four books in the original Goosebumps series titled Monster Blood, so expect a sequel :)


	4. Say Cheese And Die!

_[Summary]_ Say Cheese and Die!: _At nine years old, he was lucky his dad had let him bring the family camera on his school trip. None of the other students had a proper camera_ –– _only the disposable sort that Colin really hated_ –– _and he was feeling pretty special about it._

 **A/N –** Written for the Cards Against Humanity Competition:

The class field trip was completely ruined by a murder most foul.

I don't think I used this prompt very well. I got a little distracted.

 **Please ignore the weird double hyphens; I'm going to try and fix that tomorrow.**

* * *

Colin trailed behind the rest of his class, camera clasped firmly in his hands, poised ready to take another photo.

At nine years old, he was lucky his dad had let him bring the family camera on his school trip. None of the other students had a proper camera––only the disposable sort that Colin really hated––and he was feeling pretty special about it. He even had a thick strap to go around his neck.

He raised the camera to his face, taking his time in focussing on the painting. A few of his classmates were in the shot, but he'd already been told off for telling people to move out of his way, so he did the best with what he could get.

The click of his camera sounded loudly in the suddenly silent room, and only then did he look up from the viewfinder. A teacher grabbed his shoulder, ushering him from the room with the rest of his classmates, the noise picking up as the screams began.

Colin glanced over his shoulder, instantly wishing he hadn't, and the image that he saw would haunt his nightmares for years to come.

.oOo.

He was clearing out his room, getting ready to move to his new school, when he found an old roll of film.

"Dad," he yelled down the stairs. "What's this from?"

"How should I know?" his dad asked. Colin could hear his loud footsteps on the stairs, and opened the door to meet his dad on the landing. His dad reached the landing, looking from Colin to the roll of film. "That's from a camera," he said with a smirk.

"Thanks, Dad. Helpful." Colin nodded.

"Do you want to go get it processed?"

"Now?" Colin asked.

"Sure. Why not?" his Dad said. "It'll be ready for when you get back from school. Or we can post it to you."

.oOo.

Colin tore open the parcel from his parents, digging through and pulling out the envelope of developed photos inside.

"What's that?" the girl next to him asked.

"Some photos," he said, pulling one out to show her. It was of a fountain, a little overexposed, but it had been a sunny day.

"It's not moving," she said. "Is it broken?"

"No." He frowned down at the photo. "It's a picture. It's not supposed to move."

He turned to the next, this one taken from the steps in from of the gallery. And then the girl. Taken hours before her death.

There were strange marks over the photo, and at first he thought he was seeing things. He flicked to the next picture of her, this one at a different angle, but still the marks were in the same place. Covering most of her face.

It looked eerily like the body he had glimpsed, and he flicked through the photos faster, heard beating quickly in his chest.

The last photo––the one he'd taken seconds before her death––showed a single painting, students standing around in front of it, though most with their attention turned elsewhere. If he looked closely he could make out his reflection in the glass covering the painting.

His breathing stopped, before picking up again, faster.

He tore the photo, dropping the pieces into the remainder of his breakfast, and ran from the Great Hall.

The girl called after him, worried, but he ignored her. He made it to the toilets just in time to throw up into the basin.


End file.
